ANALYSIS OF THE CONDITION OF THE LOW COST COMPANIES AND THEIR CONNECTION TO THE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

The appearance of low-cost airline companies and with that the introduction of cheap flights caused an appearance of a new phase in the development of air traffic and the traffic in general. These airline companies are offering their services for lower prices than the other airline companies, but as a result they have their own principles and some segments of their work can be expressed in positive or negative sense for the passengers. The Republic of Macedonia is a country that is characterized by the slow tourism development with a lot of challenges and introduction of low cost airlines seems as a stepping stone in the tourism development and positioning on the tourism market, with an accent on European tourism market. The goal of the paper is to establish whether the introduction of the low cost airlines influences the increase of the number of travelers, through the analysis of the data regarding the number of transported passengers after the introduction of these low-cost flights on the two airports in the country, Alexander the Great - Skopje and St. Paul the Apostle - Ohrid. Moreover, to conclude whether this indirectly leads towards an increase of the number of tourists, above all foreign tourists in Macedonia.